upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

I have an egg. Now what do I do? Should laying hens have differnet food? There was no egg yesterday, today there is one. How many will she have?

Should I let her hach all of them (if there is more then one)?

What I would like is a step by step now do this. I am sure you can help.

Oh one more question, will a hen lay eggs if she is housed with an other hen? or Does this mean I have a male and a female?

Considering that you have one lovie who's under a year old you may come across egg problems. Hopefully she is fit enough that this wont happen. Yes, same sex pairs can act like a true pair, and even go as far as mating... I've heard of this, but as far as I've seen in "same sexed pairs", is a female budgie doing the eyes pinning, head bobbing of a male towards another female (even though she has a mate... the only male budgie in the cage).

It is possible that your older one is a male, more so if you see him mounting and feeding the younger one... but it's not a 100% guarantee... unless of course the eggs are fertile (If the hen lays more eggs, not normally more than 6, and starts to incubate them [i.e. sit tightly on them], after about a week you should be able to hold up a light to the larger end of the egg [or even the side] and if it's fertile you'll see red veins in the egg)

Have you given them a nestbox? (I suggest not to). Where was the egg layed? Do you have pictures of the pair?

If she layed the egg on the bottom of the cage you may want to remove the egg (store it in the refrigerator for now), rearrange the cage completely, move it to a new location, be sure she gets AT LEAST 14 hours of complete darkness at night, and if possible feed her more fresh foods than seeds.

If she lays another egg you can remove that and store it as well... but if she continues laying eggs, I suggest giving her the eggs back, and let them sit on them for about a month or until she gets bored of them (she must show no interest with the eggs for at least 1-2 weeks... however hens don't normally start paying attention to eggs until they have about 3 or 4).

If the eggs are fertile, you'll want to supply her with a nest and nesting material (peachface lovebirsd LOVE to build intricate nests with palm fronds or even paper!).


Hens can lay eggs alone, while with males, or even with other females (how you can find out if you have two females.. you end up with more eggs in two days than what one female could produce..... assuming that both hens are laying).


The main thing is, is that you want to be sure that your hen is eating a lot of fresh veggies... especially those very dark veggies (i.e. broccoli), the dark green leafy veggies, and the very orange veggies (carrots and sweet potatos)... you can even cook up some 15 bean soup (or 16 or 13...) without the flavor packet to add to the soft foods... or even some cooked brown or wild rice.